How Objects Shape Identity: Assertions and Declarations

• In Event: 557 - Theory Section Refereed Roundtable Session and Business Meeting
  In Refereed Roundtable 60min: Table 05. Identity, Agency, and Field Theory

Abstract

This paper examines the role of external objects in defining the self, particularly those explicitly chosen by individuals for their symbolic content—e.g. the bow in one’s hair or the painting on one’s wall. Drawing from James, Mead, Cooley, and Goffman, I posit that external objects are selected by the self to identify with based on how we believe others will see them as reflective of our self, our social context, and our place within it. Yet there are two ways in which this selection can take place. First, objects can be selected as assertions which publicly reinforce that some aspect of our identity is true. However, they can also be selected to be Declarations, which alter one’s identity and classification merely through their association with the individual—the Declaration makes the individual something that they would not be otherwise. Ultimately, I suggest that the meaning of these objects combines with the meanings within the individual’s self-context (physical body) and performance within the social context to form an argument as to how the individual ought to be categorized within the social world, as well as which value judgments ought to be attributed to them.

Author

• Noah Rankins, University of Notre Dame